The two officers, part of the ASO Joint Aviation Unit, were on a standard air patrol near Butler Plaza in December 2011.

A "big red light" came on and the helicopter's automated voice warned of the rotors' decreased rotation.

He had to act fast. If it goes wrong, "you're an anvil," Bray said. "It's unsurvivable."

Bray, a steely man with gray hair, told DeCastro to put out a mayday call.

"Air one mayday mayday," DeCastro called out over the radio. "Air one going down right just north of the Butler Plaza theaters on Windmeadow Boulevard."

Police on the ground scrambled, and the two officers in the air would find out in the next eight seconds if they'd be able to walk away alive.

---

Deputy Bray told the story of his flight to law enforcement from all over Florida on Wednesday. He gave the talk at the 2013 Southeast Regional Safety Seminar, put on by the Airborne Law Enforcement Association. The three-day seminar at the UF Hilton, which runs from Tuesday through Thursday, is an event to promote aviation safety and training, and for vendors to show new electronic wares.

In a bustling hall full of tables with gyro-stabilized cameras and flat screens that looked like they were showing video games, ALEA Southeast Region Director Kevin Vislocky explained the technology of air policing.

"Five years ago, you couldn't read a license plate number," Vislocky said of the cameras on board helicopters. "Now you can read nametags and even see hair color."

In addition to the cameras, there were also transmitters for sale that could send images to field operatives on the ground -- even onto smartphones and tablets.

Vislocky said for officers in the air, it's all about situational awareness. The interfaces allow the pilot to know exactly where they are, and where they need to go.

On one table, a vendor had a Playstation controller with a USB port, fashioned into a remote for the camera. Each button was assigned a different task; like zooming in and out.

The officers can train and learn at seminars, and the vendors help offset the costs for putting on the event.

---

The Joint Aviation Unit regularly goes out on calls to help locate fleeing suspects. They have six pilots and two tactical flight officers (the ones who ride in the passenger seat and control the cameras and look for suspects).

There are three helicopters, Bray said, but only two are currently operational. The unit tries to do one patrol per shift, the same way a uniformed officer would patrol the street. For example, Deputy Bray was in the air when an Internet cafe was recently robbed, he said. Around the same time, a man was seen carrying a rifle in the street. Bray and his TFO simply turned the copter in the air and spotted the suspect. They gave info to ground units and the man was quickly apprehended.

Sometimes they go on marijuana eradication missions. Once they spot the pot, they'll coordinate with ASO rural Deputy Brandon Jones and confiscate and destroy it. Being in the air doesn't hurt when the weed bandits flee either, Bray said.

Bray said flying helicopters is something he always wanted to do. He started as a cop and took civilian helicopter classes. He paid for it with his own money. "It's the best job I've ever had in my whole life," he said.

He's a straightforward man, and he talks evenly about some of his experiences, but more seriously when he mentions the time he crash-landed in front of the movie theater.

---

It turned out to be an air leak in the engine, but Bray and DeCastro had no way of knowing that in the air. In fact, according to Bray, DeCastro had recently been put on night duty the day of the emergency landing, and he wanted to go out and do some day flying as a warm-up. Bray agreed to take him up. They headed west in the unit's city copter, a big black and white bird.

DeCastro spotted a suspicious vehicle under some trees.

"I want to check on this car," he told Bray. They were 800 feet in the air going about 60 mph.

That's when the engine shut off. Bray spotted a nearby volleyball court, and he thought maybe he could make it.

"What do you want me to do?" DeCastro asked.

Bray said he needed him to look for cars and obstructions while they were going down. He "rolled the throttle" to disconnect it from the engine. It was basically like putting a car in park and letting the engine idle, he said.

His plan was to use the little power he had to glide the helicopter down at an angle. He also lowered the pitch of the rotor, he said, to aid him on his descent.

After the mayday call and during the drop, a van pulled out onto Windmeadows Boulevard where the copter was heading. They barely missed it, Bray said. The helicopter hit the street and rode the curb.

"We touched down and slid 140 feet," he said. "Right in the middle of the street at 4:30 p.m."

GPD Officer Ben Tobias was nearby, and said when he heard the mayday, he thought maybe it was a training exercise. But when he heard DeCastro's voice, he knew something was wrong.

"I jumped in my car and it's the fastest I ever drove," he said. "Just hearing the voice. It sounded calm but you could tell he was nervous -- but he wasn't screaming."

Tobias drove to the scene and the rotors were still spinning, he said. DeCastro immediately jumped out of the helicopter and started directing traffic.

Bray said he wasn't scared as much as he was frustrated.

"I was actually more pissed than anything," he said. "Like when your car breaks down or something."

In his 25 years of flying, he said, nothing that crazy had happened before or has since. Despite the potential for life-ending calamity, he called it a "non-issue" when asked about the danger. He said he'd practiced the auto-rotate maneuver countless times before, and he was more than prepared.

Tobias said DeCastro had a different reaction.

"I went up to Juan (DeCastro) and asked if they were OK," Tobias said, "and he asked me if I had a spare pair of underwear in my trunk."

<p>Alachua County Sheriff's Deputy Richard Bray was 800 feet in the air when his helicopter lost engine power.</p><p>"Did you do something?" Tactical Flight Officer and Gainesville policeman Juan DeCastro asked.</p><p>Bray, the pilot, said he wasn't sure, but something was definitely wrong.</p><p>"It clearly spooled down," Bray, 54, said, "it sounded just like shutting down a vacuum cleaner."</p><p>The two officers, part of the ASO Joint Aviation Unit, were on a standard air patrol near Butler Plaza in December 2011.</p><p>A "big red light" came on and the helicopter's automated voice warned of the rotors' decreased rotation.</p><p>He had to act fast. If it goes wrong, "you're an anvil," Bray said. "It's unsurvivable."</p><p>Bray, a steely man with gray hair, told DeCastro to put out a mayday call.</p><p>"Air one mayday mayday," DeCastro called out over the radio. "Air one going down right just north of the Butler Plaza theaters on Windmeadow Boulevard."</p><p>Police on the ground scrambled, and the two officers in the air would find out in the next eight seconds if they'd be able to walk away alive.</p><p>---</p><p>Deputy Bray told the story of his flight to law enforcement from all over Florida on Wednesday. He gave the talk at the 2013 Southeast Regional Safety Seminar, put on by the Airborne Law Enforcement Association. The three-day seminar at the UF Hilton, which runs from Tuesday through Thursday, is an event to promote aviation safety and training, and for vendors to show new electronic wares.</p><p>In a bustling hall full of tables with gyro-stabilized cameras and flat screens that looked like they were showing video games, ALEA Southeast Region Director Kevin Vislocky explained the technology of air policing.</p><p>"Five years ago, you couldn't read a license plate number," Vislocky said of the cameras on board helicopters. "Now you can read nametags and even see hair color."</p><p>In addition to the cameras, there were also transmitters for sale that could send images to field operatives on the ground -- even onto smartphones and tablets.</p><p>Vislocky said for officers in the air, it's all about situational awareness. The interfaces allow the pilot to know exactly where they are, and where they need to go.</p><p>On one table, a vendor had a Playstation controller with a USB port, fashioned into a remote for the camera. Each button was assigned a different task; like zooming in and out.</p><p>The officers can train and learn at seminars, and the vendors help offset the costs for putting on the event.</p><p>---</p><p>The Joint Aviation Unit regularly goes out on calls to help locate fleeing suspects. They have six pilots and two tactical flight officers (the ones who ride in the passenger seat and control the cameras and look for suspects).</p><p>There are three helicopters, Bray said, but only two are currently operational. The unit tries to do one patrol per shift, the same way a uniformed officer would patrol the street. For example, Deputy Bray was in the air when an Internet cafe was recently robbed, he said. Around the same time, a man was seen carrying a rifle in the street. Bray and his TFO simply turned the copter in the air and spotted the suspect. They gave info to ground units and the man was quickly apprehended.</p><p>Sometimes they go on marijuana eradication missions. Once they spot the pot, they'll coordinate with ASO rural Deputy Brandon Jones and confiscate and destroy it. Being in the air doesn't hurt when the weed bandits flee either, Bray said.</p><p>Bray said flying helicopters is something he always wanted to do. He started as a cop and took civilian helicopter classes. He paid for it with his own money. "It's the best job I've ever had in my whole life," he said.</p><p>He's a straightforward man, and he talks evenly about some of his experiences, but more seriously when he mentions the time he crash-landed in front of the movie theater.</p><p>---</p><p>It turned out to be an air leak in the engine, but Bray and DeCastro had no way of knowing that in the air. In fact, according to Bray, DeCastro had recently been put on night duty the day of the emergency landing, and he wanted to go out and do some day flying as a warm-up. Bray agreed to take him up. They headed west in the unit's city copter, a big black and white bird.</p><p>DeCastro spotted a suspicious vehicle under some trees.</p><p>"I want to check on this car," he told Bray. They were 800 feet in the air going about 60 mph.</p><p>That's when the engine shut off. Bray spotted a nearby volleyball court, and he thought maybe he could make it.</p><p>"What do you want me to do?" DeCastro asked.</p><p>Bray said he needed him to look for cars and obstructions while they were going down. He "rolled the throttle" to disconnect it from the engine. It was basically like putting a car in park and letting the engine idle, he said.</p><p>His plan was to use the little power he had to glide the helicopter down at an angle. He also lowered the pitch of the rotor, he said, to aid him on his descent.</p><p>After the mayday call and during the drop, a van pulled out onto Windmeadows Boulevard where the copter was heading. They barely missed it, Bray said. The helicopter hit the street and rode the curb.</p><p>"We touched down and slid 140 feet," he said. "Right in the middle of the street at 4:30 p.m."</p><p>GPD Officer Ben Tobias was nearby, and said when he heard the mayday, he thought maybe it was a training exercise. But when he heard DeCastro's voice, he knew something was wrong.</p><p>"I jumped in my car and it's the fastest I ever drove," he said. "Just hearing the voice. It sounded calm but you could tell he was nervous -- but he wasn't screaming."</p><p>Tobias drove to the scene and the rotors were still spinning, he said. DeCastro immediately jumped out of the helicopter and started directing traffic.</p><p>Bray said he wasn't scared as much as he was frustrated.</p><p>"I was actually more pissed than anything," he said. "Like when your car breaks down or something."</p><p>In his 25 years of flying, he said, nothing that crazy had happened before or has since. Despite the potential for life-ending calamity, he called it a "non-issue" when asked about the danger. He said he'd practiced the auto-rotate maneuver countless times before, and he was more than prepared.</p><p>Tobias said DeCastro had a different reaction.</p><p>"I went up to Juan (DeCastro) and asked if they were OK," Tobias said, "and he asked me if I had a spare pair of underwear in my trunk."</p>